ABSTRACT
The First World War had a significant impact on Ford Madox Ford in physical, mental, and literary terms. In Ford studies the biographical and literary repercussions of the conflict have consistently been among the most productive critical fields. Consciousness of his Anglo-German ancestry affected Ford’s self-fashioning. Ford’s preface continued to argue that he was promoting international accord and understanding: it can do nothing but good in the sense of letting people understand each other better. Brian Groth concludes his essay on London by alluding to Ford’s changing relationship with Germany, moving from a belief in internationalism to a warning against Fascism. Ford’s interest in conflict and war writing predated the First World War. He had a high regard for Stephen Crane, the American war correspondent and author of The Red Badge of Courage. Ford also wrote monographs for C.F.G. Masterman, the Liberal MP who became head of the War Propaganda Bureau.
